Study Desk

You do not plant an Asherah of any trees for yourself near the altar of your God YHWH, which you make for yourself,

And it comes to pass, on that night, that YHWH says to him, "Take the young ox which your father has, and the second bullock of seven years, and you have thrown down the altar of Ba‘al which your father has, and cut down the Asherah which [is] by it,

and you have built an altar to your God YHWH on the top of this stronghold, by the arrangement, and have taken the second bullock, and caused a burnt-offering to ascend with the wood of the Asherah which you cut down."

And the men of the city rise early in the morning, and behold, the altar of Ba‘al has been broken down, and the Asherah which is by it has been cut down, and the second bullock has been offered on the altar which is built.

And the men of the city say to Joash, "Bring out your son, and he dies, because he has broken down the altar of Ba‘al, and because he has cut down the Asherah which [is] by it."

and also his mother Maachah—he turns her aside from being mistress, in that she made a horrible thing for an Asherah, and Asa cuts down her horrible thing, and burns [it] by the Brook of Kidron;

and Ahab makes the Asherah, and Ahab adds to do so as to provoke YHWH, God of Israel, above all the kings of Israel who have been before him.

and now, send, gather all Israel to me, to the Mount of Carmel, and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Ba‘al, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who are eating at the table of Jezebel."

only, they have not turned aside from the sins of the house of Jeroboam that he caused Israel to sin, therein they walked, and also, the Asherah has remained in Samaria—

And they forsake all the commands of their God YHWH, and make a molten image for themselves—two calves, and make an Asherah, and bow themselves to all the host of the heavens, and serve Ba‘al,

he has turned aside the high places, and broken in pieces the standing-pillars, and cut down the Asherah, and beaten down the bronze serpent that Moses made, for up to these days the sons of Israel were making incense to it, and he calls it "a piece of bronze."

and he turns and builds the high places that his father Hezekiah destroyed, and raises altars for Ba‘al, and makes an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel did, and bows himself to all the host of the heavens, and serves them.

And he sets the carved image of the Asherah that he made in the house of which YHWH said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this house, and in Jerusalem, that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I put My Name for all time;

And the king commands Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring out from the temple of YHWH all the vessels that are made for Ba‘al, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of the heavens, and he burns them at the outside of Jerusalem, in the fields of Kidron, and has carried their ashes to Beth-El.

And he brings out the Asherah from the house of YHWH to the outside of Jerusalem, to the Brook of Kidron, and burns it at the Brook of Kidron, and beats it small to dust, and casts its dust on the grave of the sons of the people.

And he breaks down the houses of the whoremongers that [are] in the house of YHWH, where the women are weaving houses for the Asherah.

and also the altar that [is] in Beth-El, the high place that Jeroboam son of Nebat made, by which he made Israel sin, both that altar and the high place he has broken down, and burns the high place—he has beat it small to dust, and has burned the Asherah.

And also Maachah, mother of Asa the king—he has removed her from [being] mistress, in that she has made for an Asherah a horrible thing, and Asa cuts down her horrible thing, and beats [it] small, and burns [it] by the Brook of Kidron: